Led by a dominant batting display, Rajasthan Royals registered a thumping victory in their first game of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 against the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) on Tuesday. Kane Williamson won the toss and elected to bowl first. After giving Jos Buttler a proper working over in the first 5 balls, Bhuvneshwar Kumar nicked him off, but the replays showed him stepping over the popping crease.
This is when the floodgates truly opened for Rajasthan as the openers Jos Buttler and Yashasvi Jaiswal plundered the SRH bowlers. Umran Malik, who was at the centre of all attraction, bowled a very expensive first over as he was smacked around for four boundaries by Buttler and leaked 21 runs.
The attack never ceased as Rajasthan Royals reached the 58-run mark at the end of the powerplay. Romario Shepherd got the first breakthrough for SRH when he dismissed Yashasvi Jaiswal in the seventh over. Umran Malik then got rid of Jos Buttler in the ninth over. However, the pain was not going to end for Kane Williamson as Sanju Samson stepped up and powered on even as RR reached the 100-run mark in the 11th over.
West Indies power-hitter Shimron Hetmyer came in as the finisher and smashed the bowlers all over the park and ended with 32 runs off 13 balls. Devdutt Padikkal switched gears after a slow start and he ended at 41 runs off 29 balls in an innings that included 4 fours and 2 sixes.
Chasing a target of 211, Sunrisers Hyderabad were off to a terrible start as they lost Kane Williamson for 2, Rahul Tripathi for 0 and Nicholas Pooran for 0. They could never quite recover from this start as Rajasthan’s spinners then came into the attack and never allowed the batters any breathing space.
Only Aiden Markram and Washington Sundar offered some resistance with the bat and they played a number of delightful strokes. However, the bridge was too far for SRH as they lost the match by 61 runs.
Twitter was all praise for Rajasthan and their all-round performance:
Former England spinner Graeme Swann was thrilled with RR’s victory.
A thumping win for @rajasthanroyals to start the @IPL amazing performance ????????
— Graeme Swann (@Swannyg66) March 29, 2022
Former India spinner Murali Kartik hailed Rajasthan and called them the perfectly-balanced side.
It's just the first game, too early to stick ur neck out but first impressions & keeping the result aside @rajasthanroyals look a very balanced and strong unit
— Kartik Murali (@kartikmurali) March 29, 2022
Former England captain Michael Vaughan believes Rajasthan has the X-factor.
Loving @rajasthanroyals team this year … They have enough in terms of quality,experience & X Factor to go along way if everyone stays fit .. #IPL2022 ????
— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) March 29, 2022
Harbhajan Singh hailed the dominant performance by RR.
Top Top performance by @rajasthanroyals brilliant batting @IamSanjuSamson and what a quality spin bowling by @yuzi_chahal outstanding spell.. My man of the match YUZI
Chalo Good night hai dosto Nini time ????— Harbhajan Turbanator (@harbhajan_singh) March 29, 2022
Here are some other reactions:
Two relatively unregarded teams, Rajasthan & Punjab, have made strong statements in their opening matches. Newbies Gujarat and Lucknow look decent, Kolkata & Delhi are solid, Mumbai starting slowly is par for the course & Dhoni & Kohli have points to prove. This IPL will be fun!
— Joy Bhattacharjya (@joybhattacharj) March 29, 2022
In #IPL2022
Worst Opening pair belongs to SRH,
Worst Middle order batsmen belongs to SRH,
Worst Bowling belongs to SRH
Congrats @SunRisers no other IPL team doesn't have this many odds.@C4CRICVENKATESH— $@! (@ImSai4u) March 29, 2022
Color of the jersey can change but Yuzi taking wickets for his team won't change ????
4-0-22-3 ????????????#RRvsSRH #IPL2022 pic.twitter.com/Isrns1WR8d— Utsav (@utsav__45) March 29, 2022
There was no competition today between the two teams Tonight. Rajasthan looks solid unit.
— Irfan Pathan (@IrfanPathan) March 29, 2022
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